Dear Editor,

It certainly is a shame that the children and parents of our community are locked out of the beautiful playgrounds and yard areas of our local schools, during non-school hours. With a very limited number of public neighborhood parks and playgrounds, it seems a tremendous waste of our resources to keep our public school playgrounds locked up and inaccessible to our children and their families during after school hours, and on weekends. This is especially true since it is our tax dollars that pay for all of these facilities.

I have been told by some school officials that it is because of liability issues that they keep the gates closed during non-school hours. However, the liability issue for the school district can be eliminated by simply placing warning signs at all the gate entrances that users of the school playground facilities use them at their own risk during after school hours. Apparently, this must be the logic of other school district administrators in other communities, where I have observed that the school playgrounds and fields are accessible to the taxpayers and their families during after school hours and on weekends.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Spencer Tacke